The Sims 3 Immortal Dynasty Challenge

[Deklitch]

@amyrose The power of the forum, definitely that. With @Carl @MrsFlynn @Metropolis Man @Trip @ratchie et al watching over it, how could it be anything else?

[Sonshine]

I have a curious question about this. I tried it and just got totally bored w/my founder b/c there was nothing she could do. How do you keep from getting bored w/the "immortal?"

[Trip]

@Sonshine: are you talking about immortal elders or bored pending immortals? I tried to fulfill wishes, give them new romances/spice up existing ones, and watch them fight amongst each other because they all hated at least someone in the household. For everyone though, young and old.

[Nevermore]

I find the founder the most difficult part. I've had to restart twice now. I start the game with my founder, get two "helpers" to move in. Struggle to get enough money to have a roof over their head - fail to do so. Seems like a mad dash to get a helper to 7 painting points to paint founder's portrait. Got absolutely no time to do some kind of story. I want to give them a bit of their own plot, so I don't feel like my founder was deprived of having their own "mortal" story. Fail to get the portrait in time, game over.

Balancing painting, gardening and fishing for my helpers is so negatively time consuming.

[Deklitch]

@Nevermore there are ways of dealing with all of those issues.

You can choose to have helpers who have high skills in painting/gardening/fishing/other skills and/or useful traits. (There are lists of the residents of the different neighbourhoods in the forum here, that list their skills and traits (for example Agnes Crumplebottom has high level painting skill (level 7), Claire Ursine high level fishing, others have green thumb or gardening skill, or both).

Depending on what expansion packs/store content you have, there are objects you can use to raise skills quicker
* brain enhancement machines
* alchemy potions
* multi tab
* skill books
* classes around town

You can choose to have helpers who come with an expensive car and/or other items that can be sold. (Agnes has an expensive car, for example - make sure you take her out to dinner or somewhere that she drives her car so when she joins your household, you can sell the car.).
Other things (and this depends on what expansions/store content you have)
* dogs can dig up treasures
* dusty old lamps can be purchased using lthps and rubbed for 100k simeloens
* inheritance gives you 30000 simeloens approximately

There are no doubt other things that you can do as well, these are just some simple things - I am very good at getting through the first couple of generations, my struggles come at about generation 3

[Nevermore]

@Deklitch
I have Generations and Showtime installed. My laptop can only handle two packs at once, and I was pretty firm on having Generations with one of my most fave packs for a dynasty attempt. But I might be swapping Showtime out for University, to give me a little more choice on skills I know I can easily supermax, if need be. Plus, I love plantsims, so getting to add them into the household will be fun for me.

I'm kinda against adding Agnes, because I really don't like her as a sim. I know she has her upsides, with the painting skill and the car, I just couldn't stand to have her in my household until she dies of old age. If I could get her to do a portrait then kick her out after she completes the YA one, then I'd consider it. My painter helper/first attempt baby mama just got enough painting points after my founder aged into Adult. Literally. The sparkles hit him, he aged up. Two seconds later, she got seven points. Since I can't kick Agnes out, that can't happen. My second attempt was in Starlight Shores, which really excluded her.

I do have my sims go to the graveyard, and enter the Mausoleum in search of the lamp knowing about the wish, because I want to save LTR points for stuff I'll need later. I never find any though, no matter what options I pick. Even if I failed by one option before, I choose different the next time, then still fail. Then it annoys me because I have all three terrified by what they saw for 8 game hours. Then I have to wait for those moodlets to go before trying again.

I actually don't find the fishing skill gain part a problem to be honest. Since it is a pretty easy skill to learn, even without an angler trait. That I've kinda stuck a pin in, along with gardening now. Those I can try to do once I got everything else sorted. I never have that much of a problem finding Life Fruit seeds or Death Fish, even in normal non-challenge game play. It just consumes time, that is obviously needed for painting skilling. Though, collecting all the produce does eat up a lot of time for the gardening helper.

That is my main struggle though, money, putting a roof over their head, and the painting. In normal game play, I usually click aging off, put them in a pre-built cheap house, work hard on their careers and skills and make them rich, have all LTRs I want, save the household to the family library, then start a new save with them already rich in a house of my choosing or build one. Since I don't have that option, it just destroys my challenge. Later generations - if I ever get there, will be easier. I did an unofficial legacy for like a year with no rules once before, and I got to generation 8 with no issues.

I'll give the applicable suggestions you gave a shot, and see if they help me to actually get this challenge started. I seriously don't know how people manage to get ice sculptures and photos as well, when I can't even get one portrait in time!

[Deklitch]

I'm in the situation where I can successfully play with all the expansion packs, however I choose not to play with ITF, Seasons, Pets and Island Paradise because I find them annoying. So, by the time I got to Uni Life, I have always had World Adventures and Ambitions installed., So, my comments regarding photography and sculpting skills need to be considered in light of that.

Photography Skill
Depending on store content, and expansion packs, Photography is possibly the easiest to do the museum piece for. My starting sim and any sims I bring into the household start with the middle value camera, which means a helper can get snap happy from the get go. You aren't allowed to sell the founder's camera and keep the cash for it, but you can sell the camera of any/all the others you have brought in to help you, so that's another way to make some cash at the start. If you have the multitab store content, you can instead have a helper learn photography from the multitab, while they are doing other things. Photography is learned VERY quickly using the multitab. There is a cost for each photograph taken, however. If you want the best value photographs for the museum, the top quality camera is needed, as is panoramic size and classic vignette filter - requiring level 10 photography skill.

Sculpting Skill
Sculpting level 5 is needed to sculpt ice. In addition, 25 ice sculptures are needed to be able to sculpt ice that doesn't melt on you. The multitab does not help with learning sculpting, however the brain enhancement machines (from uni life) do help with the skill.

Without the use of brain enhancement machines, I generally progress as follows:
- 5 clay then wood until I reach skill level 5 in sculpting skill; (keep these, to do the wishes regarding x number of sculptures in your house - also ones that are furniture or chess tables etc can be used.)
- sculpt ice until I reach 25 ice sculptures (sell these as you go, to do the wishes regarding making x amount from selling sculptures; join sculpting self employment career to do wishes relating to sculpting career)
- sculpt founder as your 26th ice sculpture.

With the use of brain enhancement machines, I progress as follows:
- I purchase 5 level 1 brain enhancement machines if I can afford them.
- I purchase 1 level 2 brain enhancement machine if I can afford it as well
- I send my sculpting slave to the machines and have them change traits (at the level 2 machine) and then to the others to raise sculpting by 1 level each time, hopefully to level 5.
- I sell the machines if necessary to fund the sculptor's room.
- I send the sculpting slave to the city hall to join self employed sculpting career.
- If the sculptor is not at level 5 sculpting skill, get them to do clay and if necessary wood sculptures until you hit level 5.
- At level 5 sculpting skill, switch to ice and sculpt away, as per no brain enhancement machines, you are aiming to get to 25 ice sculpttures for unmelting ice sculptures.
- Sculpt founder as sculpture number 26.

Sculpting Slave Set Up
You can't have the sculptor doing anything else during this time (they are the ultimate skill slaves). Even something like sleeping is a luxury they really can't afford to be engaged in. I put them in a room, and lock the door so that only the sculptor can use it. Buy the cheapest music player you can and set it to the sculptor's favourite music type. If your game has rocking chairs (and I think they come with Supernatural, so yours probably doesn't) purchase one of them for your sculptor rather than a bed, if not, buy a bed. With the rocking chair, you can doze in rocking chair and still have the music playing, whereas it wakes up sims who try to sleep in a bed. Send someone else out to harvest plants around the neighbourhood - that is the food for your sculptor. If you can afford to buy them, put a toilet and shower in the room, if not, put the bathroom up next to your sculpting location and put up a door between the rooms.

LTRs, Traits and other matters
LTRs that help the sculpting slave to meet their needs are worthwhile for them to purchase, as is the midlife crisis LTR - as this permits you to change your traits; so do that and as a minimum change one of your traits to savvy sculptor, allowing for sculptures to be made that won't be wrecked. (Of course, if you have the brain enhancement machines, you won't need to spend LTHPs on the midlife crisis LTR.) Ultimately, it is a good idea to get the Artisan Crafter LTR for your sculpting skill slave - that increases the value of your sculptures.
Sculpting Skill can be learned from Teenager hood, however teenagers have to go to school, so they can't be your starting sculptor, but they can take over from the original sculptor once the first sculptor dies, if your founder is not your sculptor for the family. The teen can begin sculpting after school/on weekends and get more serious about it as a young adult.
Children can play in the sandpit and get a headstart on sculpting skill - helpful for a future sculptor supermax.

You probably didn't want to know all that, @Nevermore , but there you go, anyway.

[Nevermore]

That actually does help a fair bit @Deklitch, because when I finally do track down a copy of Ambitions, I'll probably use all the features thus denied me like a mad woman, then if I ever manage to successfully start a dynasty, I'll be using sculptures. Also, University Life does have photography, so that can help there if I do add photos, which I'm unsure about. But it's there.

I'm not familiar with the Multi-Tab. I've never come across it in expansion packs, and I have quite a few of them. Is it custom content? I don't have the choice to use that.

Thanks for the advice though, I have found a way to have some of the sims I do like, and not be mad dash for painting. Here's hoping it works this time! *fingers crossed*

[MrsFlynn]

The MultiTab is an tablet like item that you can purchase from the Sims 3 Store.

See the link below for more details:

MultiTab 6000
http://store.thesims3.com/productDetail.html?productId=OFB-SIM3:50554&categoryId=13177

I'm not familiar with the Multi-Tab. I've never come across it in expansion packs, and I have quite a few of them. Is it custom content? I don't have the choice to use that.

[Nevermore]

Ah, that's why I've never seen it then. My sims game play is all offline, with no store content or CC.

[Trip]

Just gonna give personal $.02 here. @Deklitch did an amazing job and I don't want to discount his advice at all though.

Paintings are the only thing you have to immediately worry about. And getting to level 7 is easier if you have any sim who starts off with some skill. I started with a townie who was at level 3 and I think she got to level 7 in a week at most (I did push my first portraits to the time limit so I could get at least one skill challenge done and a more valuable portrait though). Not every town starts off with a level 7+ painter (I was in Twinbrook and the most skilled painter is a measly level 4) but every town at least has someone with a little bit of a painting skill.

But stuff like fishing and gardening? Not the best advice but you can hold that off. You're not scored by ambrosia quality and you can get deathfish at level 5 fishing (at the right time of night and with bait) and life fruit at level 7 gardening (I'd recommend finding seeds ASAP though, but it's hardly a time sink). I let my founder's husband handle both of those and he spent most of his time being lazy and playing with the dog.

And while your mileage may vary, I was efficient enough with skilling to give most of my mortals at a least a little bit of a "story". Even my sculpting slaves did.

[Nevermore]

Your $.02 on this are appreciated too, Trip. At this point, I'll take as much advice as I can get. All advice I've gotten is helpful, and even if I can't use all of it, it still gives me other ideas. I have started again, and focusing on painting first. I'm hopeful with the seeds, since I did find a lot of them, and I'm sure that they are death flowers and life fruit, so that will be helpful to me later. Hopefully, I'll get a chance to play out at least a little bit of story this time.

[Odie]

Hi to all of you who still play sims 3 like I do 
I am going to give this wonderful challenge another shot.
I have tried to find an answer to this, but there are just so many pages... Is there an easy way to search through the pages that I don't know about?
(like select all pages and use ctrl+f or something would be great) 

What does this in the rules mean exactly?:
"Also, more than one of a unique Lifetime Reward can be purchased for other immortals as long as the reward is not a unique reward for other immortals"
Can you have an overlap in LTR's as long as you claim 3 different ones as unique, so just like with best friends? I mean, you can't really have a sim buy an LTR for another sim, can you? 

[Seabody]

Hi to all of you who still play sims 3 like I do 
I am going to give this wonderful challenge another shot.
I have tried to find an answer to this, but there are just so many pages... Is there an easy way to search through the pages that I don't know about?
(like select all pages and use ctrl+f or something would be great) 

What does this in the rules mean exactly?:
"Also, more than one of a unique Lifetime Reward can be purchased for other immortals as long as the reward is not a unique reward for other immortals"
Can you have an overlap in LTR's as long as you claim 3 different ones as unique, so just like with best friends? I mean, you can't really have a sim buy an LTR for another sim, can you? 

Hi @Odie!

Short answer: Yes.

Long answer: For the sake of argument let's say you have two highly intelligent and beautiful sims who are called Carl and Pam, who are Gen 1 and Gen 2. Carl has Prepared Traveler, Steel Bladder and Hardly Hungry for his unique LTR's. Pam has Savvy Sculptor, Meditative Trance Sleep, and Animal Expert as her unique ones. Carl, as a lifelong learner, decides to get Fast Learner. Pam decides this is a wholeheartedly good idea, and follows suit. Both Immortals possess unique LTRs so we're fine there. If Generation 3, a wiley individual by the name of Metropolis Man comes along, and decides to claim Fast Learner, Fast Metabolism, and Dirt Defiant as his unique reward, then we're in trouble. However if he claims Fast Metabolism, Dirt Defiant, and Master of Seduction as his unique LTRs, then we're in the clear.

(hopefully my cheque is in the mail team )

[Odie]

Hi Seabody,
Thank you so much for your reply and I understand what you mean, but I actually read something that you don't mention. It says more than one of a Unique LTR can be purchased. How then?